LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO.

2 ISSN 1410-7201

Moodle-Based Learning Model for Paragraph Writing Class

Mega Wulandari
Sanata Dharma University
megawuland@gmail.com

Abstract
Today’s language classroom is vastly different from that of the twentieth century.
The trends in language learning are moving forward in a way as to empower
language learners to interact with others. Time and place boundaries are
transcended by internet-based media to facilitate the interaction they are eager to
make. Language teachers must now be able to utilize internet for language learning,
especially in writing class because most learners assume that writing skill is the
hardest part of language to learn, which require learners to practice intensively in
order to gain mastery. Moodle (Modular, Object-Oriented, Dynamic, and Learning
Environment) is one of many internet-based media through which teachers can
work with students, whether in distance mode or as a supplement to face-to-face
teaching. There are four basic things teachers and students can do with Moodle,
namely: storing, communicating, collaborating, and evaluating. Considering those
potentials, this research aimed at developing a Moodle learning model of Paragraph
Writing at the university level.
The result of the research was the theoretical model and the iconic Moodle learning
model. The theoretical model presents the Moodle features that were selected
according to their suitability with the theory of paragraph writing as well as with
the CALL principles and Gagne’s nine events of instruction. The iconic model was
developed by making some revisions based on the results of the expert validation and
the user validation. The iconic learning model could be accessed on
www.writing2pbi.mdl2.com.

Keywords: CALL, Paragraph Writing, Moodle, Learning Media

A. BACKGROUND practicality, authenticity, flexibility,

Technology nowadays has and interactivity through Internet,
grown so advanced that almost every overcoming time and travel
aspect of life is inevitably touched by constraints of conventional place-
the advancement of technology, based face-to-face education
including education. In line with the (Warschauer, 1997). Internet can also
increasingly rapid technological promote autonomous yet
developments, especially after the collaborative learning. Young, et al
Internet was invented in 1993, new (1995), for example, predicts that the
innovations in learning are also Internet will not isolate students, but
created which involves the integration will enhance learning. He writes: One
of education and technology. A of the most important educational
learning which utilizes Internet experiences is collaboration. In some
network is now familiar with E- of the world’s most creative
learning (Hrastinski, 2008). E- classrooms, computers and
learning is arguably one of the most communications networks are already
powerful responses to the growing beginning to change the conventional
need for education which offers relationships among students

73
Moodle-Based Learning ...
themselves, and between students
and teachers, by facilitating
collaborative learning (p. 200).
Warschauer, et.al. (2000) mention five
main reasons to use the Internet for
English teaching. Taken together,
these reasons help bring English
teaching ALIVE (Authenticity,
Literacy, Interaction, Vitality, and
Empowerment).
In the era of autonomous yet
collaborative learning that has been
carried out hastily nowadays,
especially in higher education,
students are expected to be able to
rely much on themselves as well as to
assist one another in their learning.
While teachers should find a way to
accommodate meaningful learning in
order to produce more successful
learners, students should seek
another means of studying outside the
classroom so as to eventually be more
active and autonomous learning. It
complies with theory of
constructivism proposed by Vygotsky.
Constructivism is the idea that a
learner is an active learner who
constructs a personal base of
knowledge and understanding
(Vygostsky, 1999). E-Learning in
Constructivism context will be: set of
manageable, content-rich, knowledge-
sharing and collaborative tools. One
of the tools which meets those
requirements is Moodle, which stands
for Modular Object Oriented Dynamic
Learning Environment. Moodle, a free
and open-source system, is emerging
as a more and more popular option to
teachers with novice computer
background. Although Moodle is not
considered as the newest internet-
based tool, its ability to enable
learners to enter a virtual classroom
to access learning materials with low
budget yet rich in contents is still
recognized. What makes Moodle so
interesting are the useful features that
can facilitate learners to share links,
74
send personal message and publish
their work in a forum to be read by
others. The product specification is
explained through four basic things
teachers and students can do with
Moodle, namely storing,
communicating, collaborating and
evaluating.
The next issue is related to the
language learning. The prevailing
language for communication on the
internet is English. This may be a
result of the Internet origin’s, as well
as English’s role as the lingua franca
(Castells, 2007). As far as language is
concerned, writing in particular has
emerged to be the most important
skill in day-to-day life. Writing skill
plays an important role in the
globalization era since the transfer of
information and knowledge is done by
sharing of pieces of writing. Since
writing is a productive skill, it
requires the students to practice a lot
to attain mastery. Paragraph Writing
is one of the obligatory subjects
offered in the second semester by
English Language Education Study
Program (ELESP) of Sanata Dharma
University. Paragraph Writing gives
students theories and practices on
how to write good paragraphs.
Students will be introduced to the
concept of a good paragraph which
includes writing good topic sentence,
supporting sentences, and concluding
sentence. Students also need to
consider other aspects, i.e. concept of
unity and cohesion. Frequently, due
to large classes, teachers and
individual students often have
insufficient opportunities to
communicate in the classroom to
enhance their writing. To address that
issue, Moodle with its great potential
to cross those boundaries can be a
suitable tool to overcome those
problems.
LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2
B. METHODOLOGY
The research method employed was
Education Research and Development
(R & D) method. Borg and Gall (1983:
772) stated that “educational research
and development (R&D) is a process
used to develop and validate
educational products”. Moreover, the
goal of R & D was to take the research
knowledge and incorporate it into a
product that could be used in school
(Borg and Gall, 1983:771). It also
complies with the ADDIE Instructional
Design Model which underwent the
following process: Analysis-Design-
Development-Implementation-
Evaluation. Therefore, this research
used ADDIE Instructional Design
Model as framework.
Firstly, in the analysis phase,
the learning problems and learner
characteristics are identified. Analysis
also considers the audience’s needs,
lacks and wants. Secondly, design
phase was executed by deciding
learning objectives and lesson
planning. After the general objectives
had been formulated, the next step
was choosing teaching activities and
features selection in Moodle.
Afterwards, the implementation of the
Moodle Learning model in paragraph
writing was conducted to provide
experience of the newly developed
model. Finally, in order to obtain
relevant and appropriate materials
and learning strategy, the designed
learning model needed to be
evaluated to ensure the validity. This
phase consists of formative and
summative evaluation. Formative
evaluation was done by asking
feedback from a number of experts in
Paragraph Writing and Computer-
Assisted Language Learning in order
to validate the learning model. The
researcher chose four lecturers of the
English Language Education Study
Program with distinct areas of
expertise to evaluate the product
75
ISSN 1410-7201
based on their area of expertise.
Therefore the evaluation was called
“expert validation”. On the other hand,
the summative evaluation was
conducted to gain feedback from the
students. They were expected to
evaluate the learning model through
their response towards the
statements and questions presented
in the questionnaires and interview.
Therefore, this phase was called “user
validation”. The five steps ADDIE’s
design model proposed can be seen in
the following figure:
Figure 1 : ADDIE Model (Braxton,
Bronico, Looms, 2000)
C. DISCUSSION
1. Analysis Phase
The analysis phase was
conducted to collect information
about the need in Paragraph Writing
class by interviewing the Paragraph
Writing lecturer, distributing
questionnaires to the targeted users
and analyzing existing e-learning sites
to be able to develop an appropriate
Moodle learning model for the
students.
a. Interview with Paragraph
Writing Lecturer
To begin with, an interview
with a lecturer of Paragraph Writing
was conducted to collect the data. The
data include students’ proficiency, the
applied teaching strategies, students’
characteristics and teaching media. In
the interview, the lecturer implied
Moodle-Based Learning ...
that the students’ language
proficiency, particularly their
vocabulary mastery and punctuation,
was quite low. The lecturer has
attempted to assign students to do
peer reviewing or do consultation
with the lecturer before submitting
their final draft. However, because of
the large classes, the lecturer and
individual students often have
insufficient opportunities to
communicate in the classroom and
communication outside the class may
not occur because a lack of suitable
office hour, busy schedules, or simply
shyness on the part of the students.
The lecturer thinks that the student
might need a media which facilitates
them to have such interaction outside
the classroom. In addition, students
often made mistakes on the grammar
use. In-depth explanation of the
grammar use was needed to
overcome this problem. The lecturer
usually went over the common errors
to be discussed in class after he
finished correcting all the submitted
compositions. The lecturer admitted
that it usually took more than one
week to finish the correction.
Another finding of this
research was the fact that occasionally
students could hardly decide the topic
sentence of the compositions. Topic
sentence plays a role as a determiner
of what a composition is about.
Students were confused in
formulating the opening and closing
sentences, how to produce acceptable
good sentence for a particular kind of
composition. To overcome this
problem, the lecturer managed
students to form a group, then to have
a group discussion. This way, students
had possibility to collaborate with
other students in developing their
ideas.
The lecturer still utilized
traditional face to face media in his
classes, such as textbooks, additional
76
grammar exercises, and sometimes
pictures. Once the lecturer using made
an attempt to utilize Blogs and Emails
in supporting students’ writing
process, but the lecturer found
difficulties in organizing student’s
blogs and creating links to student’s
personal blogs. To connect the
lecturer with students’ blogs, he
should learn HTML coding which he
found overwhelming and thus he
thought it’s very difficult for him to
evaluate student’s compositions.
Furthermore, using email for writing
was another intricate thing. This time,
the students only make use of emails
for sending or submitting tasks which
had not finished while the
teaching/learning process were
conducted at classroom. The emails
sent by students were often mixed up
with the lecturer’s personal emails.
Afterwards, he stopped using blogs
and emails since it was considered
troublesome.
In conclusion, the lecturer
expected an instructional material
design which maximizes function of
Internet as one of the facilities
provided by the University. The
lecturer needs a media whose ability
to provide students with interactive
features, provide students with
feedback in a short period of time,
provide students with unlimited
resources, facilitate them to
communicate to each other in
finishing tasks, and a media which
relatively easy to access and simple to
navigate.
b. Analyzing the existing e-learning
websites
In order to analyze and
investigate the needs of good
educational websites characteristics,
the researcher reviewed several
English Writing websites, e.g. BBC
BLAST
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/writing
LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2
/), English Biz
(http://www.englishbiz. co.uk/), Just
a Bit: Writing in Small Chunks!
(http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/croni
nv/ 502/Syllabus_Overview.html),
Tefl.net (http://www.tefl.net/),
Writing Prompts
(http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/)
, Grammar Girl
(http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.co
m/). The result of this part was the
ideal needs response of a Moodle
Learning Model for Paragraph
Writing.
Since the Moodle learning
model would be used online and
accessed by means of computer, the
learning model would exceptionally
have interesting visual design and
effective presentation nature. The
product combined pictures and color
in an ideal amount of highlight
relationships and aid learning without
being distraction. It complies with the
CALL Principle which states that the
students will be highly motivated to
access a website with interesting
visual design.
The learning model broke
down the lessons into an ideal
number of small frames that allow the
students to make choices and apply
the principle of effective paragraph
writing. The learning model also
employed and presented affable font
efficiently for its learning texts as well
as instruction to allow longer learning
endurance and so that they do not
clutter the screen and discourage
students. These needs responses are
ideal because they answered directly
to the subject and students needs as
well as promoting the use of effective,
efficient and attractive principles for
further development.
c. An interview with targeted
students
An interview with several first
year students also conducted to gain
information about their expectation
77
ISSN 1410-7201
toward the learning model. When they
were asked about their expectations
of an ideal e-learning for paragraph
writing class, most participants
expressed that they fancied a class
which: (a) provided numerous
interactive practices for evaluating
their writing skill, (b) had systematic,
relevant, and interesting learning
materials in form of multimedia
content, (c) provided online
dictionary, (d) provided
downloadable and printable
materials, so that they can learn those
at home, and (e) is easily navigated.
2. Design Phase
After obtaining the necessary
data, the researcher then developed
the framework of the materials to be
designed, which consist of the general
objective and competence standard of
the materials, the learning topics, the
learning indicators, and the
organization of the subject content.
The framework was formed based on
the result of investigating the
Paragraph Writing Syllabus (KPE 154)
and the available literature on
Writing.
From the syllabus the
researcher noted that the general
purpose of Paragraph Writing lessons
is giving students opportunities to
practice their writing skills to produce
a good paragraph. During the course,
students will be introduced to the
concept of a good paragraph which
covers topic sentence, supporting
sentences, and concluding sentence.
Students also need to consider other
aspects, i.e. concept of unity and
cohesion. The Moodle learning model
then is designed to accommodate that
objective. The goal of the Moodle
learning model is to provide students
with a practical and efficient approach
to learning skills, strategies and
knowledge that are necessary for
succeeding in content coursework.
Moodle-Based Learning ...

Another goal of the learning model is the performance students should be

to provide opportunities for students
to explore their opinions, discuss their
ideas, and share their experiences
through written communication.
Having stated the general
objective, the researcher then
determined how to measure whether
or not the competences have been
mastered by specifying the learning
indicators. Learning indicators define
able to demonstrate in order to be
categorized as having achieved the
competences standard. Indicators can
also be used to construct tests for
measuring students’ progress as well
as the guidelines for selecting tasks
and learning materials. The learning
indicators for each topic are
presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Title and Learning Objectives

Unit Title Learning Objectives
1. Paragraph In the end of the course, the students are able to:
Organization  recognize the elements of a paragraph
 understand the organization of the paragraph
model
 identify the function of each elements of a
paragraph
 analyzing the model of a paragraph
 create a mindmap to help them determine topics
to write
 write an outline
2. Topic Sentence In the end of the course, the students are able to
 identify the two parts of the topic sentence,
namely topic and controlling idea
 Figure out the general idea as the topic sentence
for a paragraph
 Write the topic sentence in a complete sentence
using the topic and controlling statement for
provided paragraph.
3. Supporting In the end of the course, the students are able to:
Sentences &  recognize the characteristics of supporting
concluding sentence and concluding sentence
sentence  identify Suporting sentences and concluding
sentence to form a paragraph
 arrange jumbled sentences into a good
paragraph
 write a paragraph using all the elements learned
and post it in web forum
 criticize friend’s paragraph in term of
organization (elements), grammar, idea, and
vocabulary.
 revise their paragraph based on obtained
feedbacks
4. Unity and In the end of the course, the students are able to:
coherence  recognize the important aspects of a paragraph,
namely unity and coherence
 identify unified or unified paragraph
 identify whether the paragraph is coherent or
not

78
LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2 ISSN 1410-7201

Unit Title Learning Objectives

 write a paragraph using all the elements learned
and post it in web forum
 review and criticize friend’s paragraph in term
of organization (elements), grammar, idea,
vocabulary, unity and coherence
 revise their paragraph based on obtained
feedbacks

Figure 2: Course Objectives on Moodle

3. Development Phase the CALL Principle ALIVE
After the general objective, (Authenticity, Literacy, Interaction,
competence standard and unit have Vitality and Empowerment).
been formulated; the next step was The summary of the CALL
choosing teaching activities. Each unit Principles which served as the
was broken down into four main underlying theory for choosing the
sections: Module Zone, Exercise Zone, learning activities is presented in
Forum Zone, and Links Zone. The table 2.
division of the sections was based on

Table 2: CALL Principles as the basis of choosing learning activities

No. CALL Name of
Learning Activities
Principles Section
1 Authenticity Students are able to access examples and Module Zone
downloadable material.
2 Vitality Students are able to access materials, Module Zone
theories 24 hours a day.
3 Interactivity Students are able to publish/share their Forum Zone
paragraphs, provide feedback for their
peers, discuss and consult with both
peers and the lecturer.
4 Literacy Students are able to access pre-selected Links Zone
links to relevant websites and videos
5 Empowerment Students are able to assess their Quiz Zone
understanding through some numbers of
exercises.

79
Moodle-Based Learning ...
a. Module Zone
The first selected feature of
Moodle was the resource feature in
the form of Page, Label, File, Folder
and URL. It was in line with the CALL
principle of authenticity and vitality.
The internet can inject an element of
authenticity and vitality into teaching
and motivate students as they
communicate in a medium that is
flexible, content rich, and connected
to their real-life needs (Warschauer,
2000). It is presented in Module Zone
section.
In this section, the researcher
provided knowledge oriented
Figure 3: Module Zone
b. Quiz Zone
The second feature that was
selected was quiz feature. This feature
was able to support the CALL
principle of empowerment. It would
enable the students to set their own
pace that suits them in learning
without disrupting other students. It
is presented in Exercise Zone section.
This section aims to measure
students’ understanding on the
discussed topic. This page contains
exercises of the learned topic in
80
activities to prepare the students by
encouraging them to activate or
obtain relevant types of knowledge.
This allows learners to proceed to the
activities from their own experience
which allow the learning to become
meaningful to them. This page
presents materials, theories and
paragraph models that are essential to
build students’ knowledge about the
paragraph’s nature. This page also
provides downloadable materials in
form of PDF or PPT files which they
can save for future recalling.
several kinds of exercises, namely
multiple choice, cloze test, gap-filling,
picture describing, and arranging
sentences. This page also provides
obtained score and the lecturer’s
feedback after students attempted the
quiz.
The lecturer can fully control the
deadline and timeframes for
assignments, quizzes, forums, chats,
etc. For example, the lecturers can set
deadlines or timeframes when
assignments must be completed,
whether students can re-submit their
LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2 ISSN 1410-7201

assignments, and also restrict access has passed.

to learning tasks once the deadline

Figure 4: multiple-choice exercise

Figure 5: Quiz feedback for incorrect answer

Figure 6: Writing Exercise

81
Moodle-Based Learning ...
Figure 7: Short Answer Exercise
c. Forum Zone
The next selected feature from
Moodle was forum. This feature
served a represent the CALL principle
of interaction. According to CALL
principle, interaction is the major
means of acquiring a language and
gaining fluency (Warschauer, 2000).
Forum would expand interaction
among the students and the teacher. It
is presented in Forum Zone section.
Chat feature would be also added to
serve the principle of interaction. This
feature would be connected to the
lecturer’s mobile phone, thus would
give student fast response anytime
they meet difficulties.
All the compositions posted are
kept in one threaded forum and can
be read by the students from any
computer connected to the Internet.
Each member of the team is assigned
to review on the partner’s
82
compositions to insure proper
structure of the compositions posted
in the Moodle. Students were asked to
give comment on their friends’
paragraphs using thread feature (or
reply feature). The comments involve
ideas development, organization,
grammar, and punctuation. This
exercise practices the evaluation skill
of the students. The lecturer also
contributes to their learning by giving
comments as evaluation thus can be
the basis to edit and revise their
compositions. Moodle can give
students an opportunity to edit and
revise the compositions or if some
new information wants to be added in
the previously posted compositions.
Finally, the completed and revised
compositions are posted in different
folder in the Forum for grading. It is
aimed to observe how their writing
has changed over time.
LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2 ISSN 1410-7201

Figure 8: Forum Zone

d. Links Zone section was created. The Link Zone

The ability to read, research, and
publish on the internet helps
students to master the skills they
will need for academic and
occupational success. It promotes
one of the CALL principles, namely
literacy. The main benefit for
teachers to use Moodle is that they
will be able to provide direct links to
relevant websites and resources.
Ease of use of Moodle enables
regular updating of links and
materials Therefore, Links Zone
section serves as an extension of the
writing materials. This section lists
all the available pre-selected links to
relevant websites or videos. Links
for website will open in a new
window, while for the video; it is
already embedded in the website.
This additional feature enables
students to acquire further content
knowledge related to theme of the
writing material that may promote
further learning.

Figure 9: Link Zone and Embedded Video

83
Moodle-Based Learning ...
4. Implementation
After developing the learning
model, it was then implemented to
the targeted users in five meetings of
the Paragraph Writing course,
covering the structure of paragraph
writing.
Initially, the students were
familiarized with the online setting
by being informed on how to use
Moodle and what they would do in
Moodle before the implementation
got started which was in Product
Dissemination Seminar: Let’s Moodle
It held by The Graduate Program of
English Language Study Sanata
Dharma cooperated with
SEAMOLEC. It was important to do
in order to avoid students from
being overwhelmed by any possible
technical issues. The guideline that
was specially made to ease students
in navigating the site was
distributed. Therefore, every student
could refer to the guideline when
having problem in accessing the site.
Afterward, the students sign up to
enroll at the online course.
After logging in, the students
could find detailed instructions
provided in each unit section.
Students were given the chance to
familiarize themselves with Moodle
and all the features as well as
additional widgets provided in the
Moodle. Students were able to
review the lesson taught in the
classroom through the features
provided in the learning model. After
that, the students were required to
work on the exercises on how to
write effective topic sentence,
supporting sentences and
84
concluding sentence. Students could
also download all materials and
power point slides. They were also
encouraged to share their writing
and gain as much feedback as they
could possibly get by posting their
writing in the Forum feature.
5. Evaluation Phase
The data for this subsection is
acquired from the evaluation of the
material design by distributing the
evaluation questionnaires. There are
two parts that will be discussed in
this subsection, namely the
Descriptive Statistics of
Respondents’ opinions on the
Designed Materials and the
Respondents’ Comments and
Suggestions on the Designed
Materials.
After the data were calculated
and analyzed, it was found that the
results were satisfying. From the
respondents’ opinions on the
designed materials, it was found out
that the average point of the central
tendency is 4.3 from the scale 5.0. It
indicates that the designed materials
are good and acceptable for
semester 2 students of English
Language Education Study Program.
However, there was a need to
conduct more exploration on the
existing part of the design based on
the respondents’ comments and
suggestions. (See appendix 1)
Furthermore, the researcher
analyzed comments and suggestions
on the designed model by providing
the respondents four open-ended
questions. From the open-ended
questions, the respondents stated
that the designed materials had a
very interesting layout, varied
LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2 ISSN 1410-7201

activities, and the materials could materials at home. However, there

develop students’ evaluation skill was a need to conduct more
through peer commenting using exploration on the existing part of
Moodle. All participants stated that the design based on the
the presentation of the materials respondents’ comments and
was good and attractive. The layout suggestions. The respondents’
and pictures could support the comments and suggestions are
content of the materials and could presented in table 3.
persuade students to review the
Table 3: CALL Principles as the basis of choosing learning activities

No. Parts of the Types of Mistakes Suggestions

mistakes
1 Instruction Too brief instruction Provide clearer instruction to
illustrate the tasks
2 Learning Unclear learning The learning indicators should be
indicators indicators measurable and observable
3 Font Too small font Font in modules might be enlarged
4 Advertisement Ads may shift away Find a free hosting
students’ focus and
attention
5 Links Unrelated links Specify the links as it will help
students to get more focused

First of all, two participants
stated that more detailed
instructions should be added in
every section of the unit, because the
brief instructions were not clear
enough to give vivid description on
what to do. Second, the learning
indicators should be presented on
the website because they would
serve as the guidelines for the
students. The learning indicators
should be measurable and
observable. The third, the font in
modules might be enlarged, such as
the title, so the students will easily
be attracted. The forth, the ads may
shift away students’ focus and
attention. However, it would be
much better to find a free hosting
which can host the Moodle without
advertisements. The fifth, some links
are not in line with learning writing,
the participant suggest to specify the
links as it will help students to get
more focused. The last suggestion is
that one expert participant
questioned the absence of chat room
in the site. However, other expert
stated that the use of Yahoo
Messenger is sufficient and can be
said to be the valuable point of this
site.
As respondents suggested that some
instructions were not well
formulated, the researcher then
revised the instructions. In order to
ease students to understand so as to
encourage them in following the
instructed tasks, the researcher
made exhaustive yet easily-
understood instructions which is
divided into several parts; what to
write, what to post, and how much

85
 Moodle-Based Learning ...
points will be earned. Instructions
were then added in every section of
the unit and exercises so that the
students would know what they
were supposed to do without relying
too much on the lecturer to give the
instructions. By this being made, it
opposed the idea that using
technology in teaching merely
transferring the whole in-class
activities into digital version. The
idea of E-learning should serve as
enabling students to achieve their
personal objectives autonomously.
The screen shot of the first revision
could be seen in figure 10.
Figure 10: Revised version of the instruction
Related to the ads which may
shift away students’ focus and
attention, the researcher found
software named AdsBlock which can
be used for eliminating the ads from
the website hosting the learning
model prototype. By installing the
software on every computer device
used to access the Moodle, no
advertisements will appear to
distract students’ focus.
86
Furthermore, related to the
participants’ comment on the
provided links, the researcher has
eliminated any unrelated links and
added some subsidiary links from
which the students could obtain
some extra references.
In conclusion, by revising and
improving the site based on the
evaluation, the ideal design of
Moodle-based Learning Model for
Paragraph Writing is achieved.
D. CONCLUSIONS
All features were developed
and put under the four sections
created to help showing the flow of
the course. Those four sections were
Module Zone, Exercise Zone, Forum
Zone, and Link Zone.
1. Module Zone section required
the students to study theory on
the topic being learned it also
gave the students access to
download the learning
materials.
2. The Exercise Zone section
contained the exercises evaluate
the users understanding of the
materials given. The exercises
offer additional practice in
correctly and effectively
building sentences and a
paragraph.
3. The Forum Zone section serves
as a place for students to post
and share their writing. This
page makes all students’
compositions viewable to the
whole class members and thus
can facilitate the students in
comparing and reviewing peers’
compositions.
4. Link Zone section allows both
students and lecturer to share
links to relevant Internet
 LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2 ISSN 1410-7201

resources in form of webpages Conference on Information Systems,

or videos sorted by topics Montreal, Canada, December 9-12
created by the instructor. 2007

The expert validation questionnaires Vygotskii, L.S. (1978). Mind in

were distributed to the lecturers of
the English Language Education
Study Program of Sanata Dharma
University and one Moodle user
from Monash University, Australia.
After the data were analyzed, it was
found that the mean from 24
statements was 4,3 out of 5. The
results of the expert validation had
implied that theoretical model had
been satisfactorily designed and
developed, which was then called as
the Iconic Model Prototype.
REFERENCES
Borg, W. R. &Gall, M. D. (1983).
Educational research: An
introduction. New York: Longman,
Inc.
Castells, M. (2007).Rise of the
network society. 3 Vols. Vol. 1.
Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publisher.
society: The development of higher
psychological processes. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press
Warschauer, M. (1997).Computer-
assisted language learning: An
introduction. Tokyo: Logos
International
Warschauer, M, Shetzer, H., &
Meloni, C. (2000). Internet for
English teaching. Virginia: Teachers
of English to Speakers of Other
Languages, Inc.
Young, Mark R., Bruce R. Klemz, and
J. William Murphy. (2003).
Enhancing learning outcomes: The
effects of instructional technology,
learning styles, instructional methods,
and student behavior. Journal of
Marketing Education 25.2: 130-142.

Harstinski, S. (2008). Asynchronous

& synchronous e-learning. Paper
presented at the 28th International

Appendix 1. The Descriptive Statistics of Expert Validation

Frequency of points Central
No. Statements of agreement Tendency
1 2 3 4 5 N M
1. The learning indicators in the lesson plan
are in line with the basic competences and - - - 1 4 5 4.8
standard competences.
2. The site provides learners with the clear
- - - 1 4 5 4.8
knowledge of the program objectives.
3. Module
a. The explanation of the text type has - - 1 2 2 5 4.2
been well described in the module.
b. Abstract concept of Paragraph Writing
(Principles, Rules, Structure, etc) are - - 2 2 1 5 3.8
illustrated with concrete and specific

87
 Moodle-Based Learning ...

Frequency of points Central

No. Statements of agreement Tendency
1 2 3 4 5 N M
examples

c. The language features are presented in

accordance with the type of text being 5 4.6
- - - 2 3
discussed.
d. Model text can help students to get an
overview of the types of text being - - - 2 3 5 4.6
discussed.
e. Multimedia features (video, animation,
pictures) help learner build their
- - - 2 3 5 4.6
understanding on the concept of
Paragraph Writing.
f. Downloadable materials in form of PPT
and PDF enrich students knowledge on - - - 1 4 5 4.8
the concept of Paragraph Writing
4. Exercise
a. The exercises are able to support the - - - 1 4 5 4.8
topic being discussed.
b. The instruction of the exercises are
clear and easy to follow - - - 1 4 5 4.8

c. The types of exercises are varied,

thereby obviating the students from
- - - 3 2 5 4.6
boredom in doing the exercises

5. Forum
a. The forum instructions are clear and - - 1 2 2 5 4.2
easy to understand.
b. The forum activity is able to improve
the learners writing ability. - - - 2 3 5 4.6
c. The forum activity is related with the
- - - 1 4 5 4.8
discussed topic.
d. The forum activity motivates the
- - - 2 3 5 4.6
learners to do peer reviewing.
6. Drop a Visit
a. The provided links can be accessed - - - 2 3 5 4.6
flawlessly.
b. The provided links can can gain
attention and maintain motivation of
- - - - 5 5 5
the learners while helping learners
understand the materials deeper.
7. a. The Moodle Learning Model is
appropriate to be implemented for second
- - - 2 3 5 4.6
semester students of English Education
Study Program
8. The Moodle Learning Model provides
learners with frequent and varied learning - - - 1 3 5 4.8
activities that increase learning success.
9. The web provides supporting tools
- - - 1 3 5 4.8
(dictionary, YM Chat, comment box, etc)

88
 LLT JOURNAL VOL. 18 NO. 2 ISSN 1410-7201

Frequency of points Central

No. Statements of agreement Tendency
1 2 3 4 5 N M
10. The Moodle Learning Model is easy to
- - - 1 4 5 4.6
navigate (provide clear instruction)
11. The Moodle Learning Model is free from
- - - 2 3 5 4.6
technical problem.
12. The Moodle Learning Model has a
consistency (colour, layout, font and
- - - 1 4 5 4.8
capitalization) are consistent from screen to
screen.
13. Generally, the learning model is well
- - - 3 2 5 4.4
designed
Total - - 4 42 81
Total score 554
Good
Mean 4,3

89
Moodle-Based Learning ...

90